By Charlie Barra, San Jose Mercury News

If California does not provide an adequate water supply at reasonable cost to its agricultural industry, competition from globalization will soon turn the state into a Third World country.

Most of the people working to find a solution to California water problems seem to have a hard time understanding the economic impact that the lack of water at reasonable prices has on the economy and how this directly affects working families and the state’s tax base.

Additionally, this great state has been able to export food products, within the United States and internationally, at reasonable prices. That, in effect, has raised the standard of living for all those consumers. We must have a reliable source of water to be able to continue growing these much-needed commodities at fair prices.

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Autumn Fest at the Lake Tahoe Demonstration Garden at Lake Tahoe Community College is Sept. 12 from 11am-3pm.

Celebrate autumn and support the Lake Tahoe Demonstration Garden by enjoying a pumpkin patch, bake sale, speakers, bluegrass music, silent auction, kids’ games and more.

No entrance fee.

Contact Kara Steeland at ksteeland@tahoercd.org or (530) 543.1501, ext. 105 for more information.

By Erin Kelly, Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON — As he fights for a fifth term, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is touting his clout as a key reason that voters should keep him in Washington.

But just what has Reid’s seniority — and his powerful position as majority leader — brought Nevada?

Harry Reid

The answer, if you look just at the federal earmarks he’s gotten in the past two years to fund Nevada projects, is nearly $662 million, to pay for everything from Lake Tahoe restoration to firefighting equipment for Reno.

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Where the earmark money has gone

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Reid ranked No. 6 in the Senate in fiscal year 2010 for the number of earmarks he got for his state, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, an anti-earmark group.

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Mike Beam has been appointed the chief alternative sentencing officer for Douglas County.

Working for Douglas County for the past 27 years, he was the youth facility manager with China Spring Youth Camp where he worked for the past eight years. Prior to that position he served as a special investigator in the District Attorney’s Office for seven years, and was also a deputy sheriff/investigator for 12 years.

Mike Beam

As the chief alternative sentencing officer, Beam will plan, organize and manage the activities of the Alternative Sentencing Department, which handles misdemeanor offenders who have been sentenced as an alternative to incarceration and have legal conditions of probation and parole.

By Ann M. Simmons, Los Angeles Times

Firefighters have made significant progress in taming an aggressive wildfire that has burned almost 14,000 acres in northern Los Angeles County.

By 6am Sunday, containment of the Crown fire, which had ravaged areas of western Palmdale and the Leona Valley, had reached 87%, according to Inspector Don Kunitomi, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Firefighters worked through the night, constructing additional containment lines, extinguishing embers and patrolling burn areas, officials said.

Kunitomi said that, despite low humidity, calmer winds had aided firefighters in dousing the blaze.

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Click here for an update on the Plumas County fire.

The 4-H Camp in Stateline is having an open house Sept. 12 from 10am-2pm.

The event is an opportunity to see changes to the camp and to learn what future changes are in store.

Lunch is sponsored by Nevada Farm Bureau Federation and a donation of $5 is suggested.

In addition to lunch, the camp beach will be open for swimming, and tours of the cabins and new dining pavilion will be available. Various groups will have exhibits set up, and there will be a presentation on the history of 4-H in Nevada.

Click here for more information.

By Roman Stubbs, Reno Gazette-Journal

The homemade plywood start gate sits in his front yard in Truckee, not far from the garage, where several sets of skis are carefully stacked against the back wall.

They were essential pieces of Errol Kerr’s ninth-place finish in skicross at the 2010 Winter Olympics where he competed for Jamaica, but they sit unnoticed in the mid-summer heat.

The real tools of Kerr’s trade are the welder and plasma cutter hanging from cords in the cluttered garage. They help the 24-year-old do what he has been doing all his life — they help him take risks.

His latest project involves attaching steel brackets to a Canon HD camera. The camera soon will be mounted to a remote control helicopter and flown over the New York Jets training camp by Kerr, as part of an aerial photography deal with HBO’s NFL series “Hard Knocks.”

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The fire chief for the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is suspending residential burning, also known as “dooryard” burning, effective today through the remainder of fire season.

The prohibition applies to debris burning on private, state and federal lands of El Dorado and Placer counties in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Residential debris burning is already banned within the city of South Lake Tahoe, and in the Tahoe Douglas and North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection districts in Nevada.

Lake Tahoe weather conditions have generally been warm and dry, leading fire protection officials to move to end residential debris burning due to increased risks. The ban is for residential burns only and does not prevent federal, state and local fire managers from conducting prescribed fire operations necessary for fuels reduction on public lands. Prescribed fire work is conducted by fully equipped professional wildland firefighting crews under favorable weather conditions.

The ban also does not prohibit small, contained campfires on private land outside South Lake Tahoe, built by the property owner or with the written permission of the property owner. Remember never to leave campfires unattended and always extinguish them properly — drown, stir and feel.

The residential burn ban will remain in effect until temperatures, winds and humidity allow for safer conditions.

By Richard N. Velotta, Las Vegas Sun

The National Football League has unveiled its advertising, sponsorship and promotion guidelines for 2010, and the good news for Las Vegas is that some changes will allow the city to be shown off in TV ads during the upcoming regular season.

The bad news for the city’s promoters is that showing off our hotels and casinos — or even a pair of flying dice above a craps table — and invoking our world-famous motto, “What happens here, stays here,” are still considered too racy for the NFL’s taste.

Still, the revised guidelines are an important step in displaying Las Vegas in commercial messages that appear during the games that sports books annually thrive on. But advertisers still won’t have carte blanche to put anything about Las Vegas on the air.

In the NFL’s 2009 postseason, the league had what amounted to a four-week trial period with a revised advertising policy. Those guidelines will be in place for the entire 2010 season, giving advertisers an opportunity to deliver messages on national broadcasts for the 17-week regular season.

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“Masters of Magic,” a high-energy, family-friendly show featuring four headliner magicians with grand illusions, sleight of hand, and a splash of comedy, will appear at MontBleu casino in Stateline Aug. 4–Sept. 5.

Tickets are $19.95 for adults and $12.95 for children 17 and under.

Starring in this production is world champion master magician Tony Clark. In addition to producer of the year, he also won the coveted titles of world’s best sleight of hand magician at the International Magic Awards, world class champion at the Society of American Magicians, Best Classical Magic Act Award at The World’s Magic Awards which aired on CBS.

Clark has also been in episodes of the TV series “Masters Of Illusion”.

Headliner Danny Cole, 28, has made a significant mark in the world of magic. He was named stage magician of the year by members of the Magic Castle in Hollywood. Cole has consulted and created magic for other magicians and has been a featured performer in gala shows and at variety theaters around the globe.

His approach to illusion incorporates concepts and principles that raise magic to an art form.

Joel Ward and his assistant, Stacey, have been featured in “Lance Burton’s Young Magician’s Showcase” on Fox. Ward’s vitality and original tricks earned him first place at the International Brotherhood of Magicians Competition, the world’s largest magic organization. He started performing when he was 10, and by 15 he became a World Champion Teen Magician.

For more than a decade, Bryson Lang has entertained thousands with his unique comedy and juggling act. He’s performed on PAX TV’s, “Master’s of Illusion” series and appeared on the “Extreme Gong Show” – where his act won first place. He was also a featured juggler on, “Charmed” and “That ‘70s Show”. Lang has appeared in “Austin Powers II” and “Batman and Robin” and has been a featured act at corporate events for Disney, Toyota and Hawaiian Tropic.

Tickets are available at the MontBleu Box Office, 800.648.3353 or  at www.ticketmaster.com.